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John,

Across the country are expanses of wild forest that have for decades grown unfettered by road construction and industrial logging. These remote places, known as roadless forests, shelter more than 220 threatened and endangered species, many of which live nowhere else.[1]

But the very features that make these places ecological havens are under threat as the Forest Service considers opening the roadless forests up to industrial logging and mining.

If the Roadless Rule is repealed, more than 45 million acres of trees could end up on the chopping block and hundreds of unique and rare species would be left with nowhere to go. Here are three critters that could lose their homes:

Alexander Archipelago wolves thrive in the coastal rainforests of Southeast Alaska's Tongass National Forest.

Often smaller and darker than their inland cousins, these wolves are perfectly adapted to their lush forested environment. They raise their pups in cavities beneath the massive old-growth trees, and negotiate the dense rainforest underbrush with ease, tracking deer and feasting on the salmon that spawn in streams shaded by trees older than the country.[2]

Threatened by hunting and loss of habitat, Alexander Archipelago wolves already face an uncertain future. If the roadless regions of the Tongass are opened to logging, these wolves would be left with nowhere to go.

Family is everything for the red-cockaded woodpecker. These social birds practice what's known as cooperative breeding, where offspring from previous years stay to help their parents raise the next generation of chicks.

Unlike many other woodpeckers, red-cockaded woodpeckers excavate nesting cavities in live trees, specifically mature long leaf pines, which are highly resistant to fires. It can take up to six years to properly excavate a cavity, so woodpeckers often maintain their family cavity through generations.

Prized by loggers, long leaf pines forests were annihilated by industrial logging, and red-cockaded woodpecker populations have subsequently declined by about 99% since the arrival of European settlers. Most today can be found maintaining their family nesting cavities in the pockets of pines, many of which are protected by the Roadless Rule.[3]

If you find yourself in West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest come evening, look up. You just might glimpse a tiny gliding square silhouetted against the twilit sky -- a West Virginia northern flying squirrel.

These adorable squirrels flourished for centuries in the red spruce forests that spanned the upper elevations of the Allegheny Mountains.

Industrial logging throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries decimated the red spruce, and with them went the flying squirrels, who nested in the trees' hollows and had a diet consisting largely of fungi that grew along the roots of the trees. A 1985 study registered only 10 flying squirrels.[4]

Federal protections and forest restoration efforts have allowed these flying squirrels to come back from the cusp of extinction -- in 2005, scientists counted more than 1,100 squirrels at over 100 unique sites. Their future now relies on the continued existence of healthy red spruce forests.[5]

All three of these critters share a commonality: They depend upon habitat protected by the Roadless Rule, which prohibits road building, industrial logging and mining in remote forests across the country.

If the Forest Service carries out its plan to roll back the Roadless Rule, we'll lose so much more than trees.

The thick, old-growth-shaded underbrush Alexander Archipelago wolves use for cover will be gone.

The long leaf pine cavities maintained by generations of red-cockaded woodpeckers will be destroyed.

The red spruce and the fungi upon which West Virginia northern flying squirrels feast will disappear.

The lives of these species and so many more are defined by specific forest habitats and without these places, they could disappear.

Defending these wild forests won't be easy, but Environment Colorado is ready to stand up for these special places. We'll be collecting signatures, organizing events and running advertisements to spread awareness about the Roadless Rule.

Thank you for supporting this important work,

Ellen Montgomery

P.S. Want to help wolves, woodpeckers, flying squirrels and all the other incredible critters that rely on roadless forests? Donate today.
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1. Ellen Montgomery, "What is the roadless rule and why should you care about it?", Environment America, July 23, 2025.
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2. Katrina Liebich, "Rainforest Wolves of Alaska's Alexander Archipelago," U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, last accessed August 19, 2025.
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3. "Red-cockaded Woodpecker," North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, last accessed August 19, 2025.
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4. Darci Palmquist, "A brighter future for West Virginia's rare flying squirrel," U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, January 21, 2020.
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5. "West Virginia northern flying squirrel," U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, June 2, 2006.
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